The West Meets Ice
Had I been given a broken saddle? Or worse, had a previous rider torn the horn off while being thrown from the horse? I looked to our Swedish tour guide […]
THE KIND OF MUSEUM YOU WANT TO LIVE IN
The museum (called quite literally “Museum” or “Collection” in Icelandic) faces Laugavegur, but looking in the window it is difficult to discern how extensive the collectio
Top 8 Movies
It´s easy to think of five good Icelandic films. When I look over this list I see that the films on it are incredibly varied regarding content and subject matter. […]
Top 8 Albums
In my teenage years my parents’ collection of jazz records became my main fodder before turning on to the likes of Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Leon Russell, Steely Dan [&h
GET YER KICKS ON ROUTE ONE
Camping has become keeping up with the Jónssons Still more daring are those who choose to rough it in the hinterlands of suburban Reykajvík. The camping ground in Laugardalur nes
ICELANDERS HAD THE GUTS TO LEAD THE WAY.”
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir became the first woman to be elected a constitutional head of state when she took office in 1980, a position that she then held for a further sixteen [&hell
SISTER RUTH SEARCHES FOR POVERTY
I first spoke with Sister Ruth over the phone one Friday. I explained that I wrote for a local newspaper and asked if it would be alright if I accompanied […]
THE IDIOSYNCRACIES OF LEARNING ICELANDIC
The idiosyncracies of learning Icelandic are not restricted to the grammar – the curious habit you may have noticed of inhaling words or even whole sentences to indicate some
Why Iceland is Inhabitable
Opening the door one morning, considering the idea of going on a little walk, I stared out at the mountains through the snow that tore through the sky sideways and […]
DRINK IS GOOD FOR YOU!
If you are a visitor reading this piece there’s not much that you would consider out of the ordinary about my actions. But if you are from Iceland, the image […]
VIKINGS AND ODIN WORSHIPPERS
Icelanders rarely go to church outside of weddings and funerals. For the last three decades, however, there has been something of a revival in the worship of the Old Norse [&hellip
THE NEW QUEENS BEGIN THEIR RULE
“We’re changing what a drag show is. I’ll be singing in Arabic,” he says, and then gives a crotch-exposing pose. I haven’t been backstage at many drag shows, but the [&he
STICK PINS IN THEIR FEET AND SLAP THEM ON THE CHEEK
No, not a scene from the latest horror flick, but for me an average day at work last summer. It was only a plastic skeleton, but this shiny, clean heap […]
Paddy´s Top Five Burger Joints
Hard Rock Cafe Kringlan Mall Originally I had intended on skipping the larger chains like Hard Rock. However, during my thorough and highly scientific poll of hamburger scholars, t
Top 8 Albums
There´s some very Icelandic magic at work here and this album manages to be varied, surprising and clever. Megas had just gotten the first taste of punk and wrote the […]
THE 2ND WORST THING YOU CAN SAY TO A GUY ON A 2ND DATE
This wasn’t just my imagination running wild. She really did taste like whiskey. It was her New Year’s resolution. To acquire the taste. And she was doing just fine. She [&hell
Geysir
“I’ve given all the good stuff to my believers a little closer to the biblical homelands” said the man with the fluffy white beard, “See what you can do with […]
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON
So when he entered the studio again at the end of the year, he had a lot to live up to. Dylan rose to the challenge and the subsequent album, […]
Orthodontists, Artists and Hairstylists to the Stars
The gallery is situated within a cluster of old structures which, in the diffused evening light, add an aesthetic contribution of their own. An abandoned wool factory looms authori
OPPS! “I DIDN’T DO IT” AGAIN
From playwriting to installation art, painting to photography, books to documentary film, he´s done it, and nearly all of it will be featured June 11th through August 8th at the [
The Day After Tomorrow
Although originally from Germany, director Roland Emmerich has long made a point of being more American than the Americans. Here, at least, he is a different kind of American. Wher